😷 Masks on, beds ready in Asean

Hello friends!

Let’s spend our Sunday in high anxiety with the coronavirus. Thankfully, not much to report just yet. 

From what I can tell, Southeast Asia has around 15 confirmed cases, mostly in Thailand and Singapore. Which, given the foot traffic through both of those destinations, isn’t entirely surprising. 

Before we get into it there are loads of general explainers on the Wuhan coronavirus out there. I really like this one from NPR’s Goats and Soda section which explains the virus in comparison to other recent scares.

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See you next week, hopefully sans too many updates on these cases.

Erin Cook

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Singapore’s Health Ministry confirmed that as of Friday the city has 44 suspected cases, with four confirmed cases as of Sunday morning. Don’t stress too much, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says, and definitely don’t let it ruin Lunar New Year celebrations. He added that Singapore has “been gearing up” for an outbreak of this kind since the SARS incident in 2003.

It seems like Singapore is both the most at-risk country in Asean, given how much traffic Changi sees daily, and also the best equipped at dealing with it given its relative size. 

But what I really want to talk about here is this great read from Race Tuition Centre, a new newsletter looking at race issues in Singapore. This weekend’s issue looks at racist tropes towards Mainlanders from ethnically-Chinese Singaporeans and others, which I think has some important lessons for those of us not in Singapore too.

Lest we forget, people in China are probably the most terrified and at risk right now. If Singaporeans are going to get riled up every time the West makes fun of our food, we owe it to the rest of the world to respect their food choices too. I’m not a scientist; I have no idea why the virus mutated, let alone why it came out of China. Sure, bats and/or snakes have been suspected to play a role in this but let me please remind you that swine flu and mad cow disease also exist but somehow the “barbarian” tag isn’t sticking to everyone who eats pork, beef, or cheese. Things go wrong all the time. Nobody in Wuhan expected that this would happen. When you blame Chinese people for the disease, you’re making a sweeping generalisation about literally one billion people. There is nothing inherently Chinese about some of the stereotypes people are peddling. Chinese people aren’t inherently worse at personal hygiene or deceitful or compelled to eat unusual things.

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Across the Causeway in Johor Bahru, Malaysian Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad confirmed three known causes including a little two-year-old boy. The trio are all from one family and related to one of Singapore’s known cases. In response, two emergency teams have been deployed in an effort to contain the virus. 

Kuala Lumpur International Airport has rolled out measures we see everywhere, including these temperature checks. But in Sabah, lawmakers are keen to shut down flights from Wuhan entirely. My understanding is there aren’t too many planeloads out of there at the moment, but this gives us a look at how lawmakers are responding to public pressure. 

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As of Sunday morning, Thailand has five confirmed cases including both Thai nationals and visitors from Wuhan. Suvarnabhumi Airport authorities have said they’re waiting for direction from health authorities in China when it comes to screening procedures of passengers arriving from China. It comes as authorities there extended a travel ban on group tourism (which could be a very interesting thing to watch if this continues longterm given how poorly the Thai tourism sector is tracking recently). Lunar New Year celebrations have gone ahead, if not a little nervously.

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Two (little kid!) tourists to the Philippines are under observation in Palawan, but authorities don’t seem overly concerned and it looks mostly like a precaution. The Bureau of Immigration says it will no longer approve visa on arrivals for tourists from Wuhan, but my understanding is they’re not going anywhere at the moment anyway?

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So far, so good, say Indonesian authorities. Two suspected cases — Chinese nationals arriving in Bali — have come back negative. Health agencies in Jakarta have prepared three of the city’s major hospitals for a potential outbreak, suggesting similar operations to the 2008 avian flu. Not much on this front just yet, really. 

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Vietnam reports two confirmed cases, both Chinese nationals. Nothing in Cambodia as of Friday, nor Laos, Myanmar or Timor-Leste. Nothing yet out of Brunei but an important reminder to not freak out, everybody!